After its speedy rise at the end of the U.S. government shutdown and signs of a struggling American economy, gold recorded its fifth consecutive day of rapid decline, heading for the longest slump in three months, after data showed U.S. manufacturing activity climbed to a two-year high, spurring speculation that the Federal Reserve will after all begin paring stimulus sooner that previously forecast.

Bullion for immediate delivery fell as much as 0.3 percent to $1,312.24 an ounce. Further drop today would mark the longer losing run since the five days leading to 1st August.

Gold plummeted 22 percent in 2013 as investors sold off the safe-haven commodity as prospects of an economic recovery appeared on the horizon. Although the Fed maintained its $85 billion monthly bond-buying programme last week, it also noted signs of underlying strength” in the world’s largest economy that seems to have renewed investors trust in the USD.

But not everyone agrees that investors should so quickly shun the precious metal. Peter Schiff, nicknamed gold bug, predicts gold will maintain its 21 percent year-to-date fall and even surge 52 percent to hit a record $2,000 an ounce within a year. Schiff stated that he’s waiting for a dollar crash, one much worse than any thus-far experienced, that will benefit gold. Despite the gold bug’s accurate predictions in 2006 about the burst of the housing bubble and bank bankruptcy, many critics laugh at his recent predictions seeing no signs for such economic reversal.